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View SlideshowRequest to buy this photoEamon Queeney | DISPATCH photosCraig Curley, of Tucson, Ariz., wins the full marathon in 2:19:01 to break a streak of five straight men’s races won by Ohio runners.

At about the 8-mile mark, a stretch of fog embraced the 33rd annual Nationwide Children’s Hospital Columbus Marathon yesterday and added a touch of mystery for the record field of 18,000.

“I was really surprised,” Craig Curley said. “It was nice and cool. It looked like it was going to be a clear morning. But as soon as we got to one of the bridges, it was really foggy.

“I was like, ‘Oh man, I don’t want to lose the front pack.’ I didn’t want to get stuck in no-man’s land. So I had stay up there. There was one part where you couldn’t see well at all.”

Curley stayed close to the leaders and wound up breaking away late to win the full marathon with a time of 2 hours, 19 minutes, 1 second. It was his first victory in only his second race at the 26-mile, 385-yard distance.

Curley, a native of Tucson, Ariz., also snapped a streak of five consecutive wins of the men’s race by Ohio runners. Curley had to start with the field behind the seeded, elite runners.

“I was trying to get into this race as an ‘elite,’ but I couldn’t,” Curley said. “My coach got me in as a regular athlete. He paid for the race out of his pocket. So I felt like I better do really good to get to that finish line.”

The women’s full marathon had a similar story line, with Laurie Woodring of Bethel Park, Pa., scoring a victory in only her second marathon. She finished in 2:45:29, about 10 minutes better than her first try.

“I’m shocked,” Woodring said. “I was just hoping to do better than 2:56. I tried to start out slowly and to feel comfortable. In the second half, I tried to give it a little more oomph. In the last six (minutes), I gave it all I had.”

She took the lead at 23 miles and never looked back while finishing ahead of Renee High (2:47:30) of Virginia Beach, Va., and Heidi Greenwood (2:47:45) of Cleveland Heights.

“I was probably too relaxed early and got myself in a hole,” Folk said. “I was trying to catch up to the lead group and couldn’t see them from 8 to 10 (miles) because of all the fog. I just never could catch up to that group.”

The field, in general, was deeper than it had been in the past few years, with a number of runners from Kenya and Ethiopia competing in both the full and half marathons.

Prize money had something to do with that. The full marathon winners got $5,000 this year. The half marathon was worth $3,000 to the winner.The competition was welcome.

“It was good to have that kind of company,” Curley said. “When you’re competing at a marathon, you definitely want to have someone with you to push you to that edge.”

Julius Koskei (1:03:44) led a trio of Kenyans to the finish line in the men’s half marathon. He views George Towett (1:04:11) and Philemon Terer (1:04:21) as good friends. All three raced in the Baltimore Marathon last week.

“Everybody knows everybody,” Koskei said. “It makes it fun. I win sometimes. They beat me, too. So this is good.”

Katie McGregor of Savage, Minn., set a course record (1:13:32) while winning the women’s half marathon over Mariska Kramer (1:15:48) of the Netherlands and Maura Lemon (1:17:21) of Vandalia.

McGregor grew up in the Cleveland suburb of Willoughby, so the race was a chance to combine competition with a visit home. The chilly weather wasn’t a problem for her.

“I was actually starting to get a little bit warm toward the end,” McGregor said. “But then there was a lot of fog in the second half, so you were kind of getting wet. So it was a little interesting, but it was fun.”

Josh George won the wheelchair race in 1:47:42 over Aaron Pike (1:49:04) and Travis Dodson (1:49:05). All three are from Champaign, Ill.